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NEW DELHI: Top mobile service providers such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Reliance Communications have become aggressive in the market, wooing consumers with offers such as cheaper roaming tariffs, free Twitter access and mobile videos for as low as Re 1 among others.

Reliance Communications, or RCom, on Tuesday announced a partnership with social media firm Twitter to offer 90 days of free Twitter access to all its prepaid GSM subscribers, with an eye on cricket enthusiasts who keep track of IPL and its participants through Twitter. Once the pack is activated, the app will work on any GPRS-enabled phone and users will not have to pay data charges for the three months of the promotional offer. Charges will apply when external links that appear on the tweets are viewed.

"We are hoping this offer to trigger a significant shift of cricket enthusiasts using smartphones to our network," Nilanjan Mukherjee, chief revenue officer, wireless, at Reliance Communications, said. The dual-technology telecom firm had earlier offered unlimited use of messaging app Whatsapp for Rs 16, aimed largely at college students.

If RCom looks to woo IPL fans, rival Vodafone is targeting people set for summer holidays by slashing national roaming rates for its pre-paid customers. Vodafone on Tuesday cut roaming incoming rates to 30 paise per minute for pre-paid customers on its network and has priced all outgoing local and STD calls at 1.5 paise per second, while roaming or at home. The roaming plans vary from state to state ranging between Rs 26 and Rs 47 for one month.

"The new national roaming plan has been specially created for those who tend to travel a lot on a regular basis. They can now talk more without worrying about high roaming costs," Vivek Mathur, chief commercial officer at Vodafone India, said. However, the new roaming plans are not available for Himachal Pradesh, Odisha and J&K.

Vodafone is the second after Aircel to have slashed roaming rates. Aircel introduced one-nation one-roaming back in January, offering incoming calls while on roaming on Aircel network for free, and charging local and national voice calling at 1 paisa per second. The offer price varies from state to state, for instance, a Delhi a user pays Rs 39 a month to subscribe while a Mumbai user pays Rs 32.

Vodafone is also pushing mobile phone users to try out internet through trial packs that it offers for 2G, at Rs 25, and 3G, for Rs 49. It launched a high-decibel campaign featuring the Zoozoos during the Indian Premier League to promote this offer.

The country's largest telco by subscribers and revenue, Bharti Airtel has launched internet video for Re 1. It offers internet users thousands of videos spanning various genres like movies, cricket, comedy, devotional, health in Hindi, English and regional languages through Airtel

Live. Customers will be charged Re 1 per video download and will not have to pay any data charges. In one of the TV campaigns, a taxi driver shows a video of a Bollywood song to a customer instead of return `1 in change. Aircel introduced a pocket internet pack costing Rs 24 valid for a month that allows its customers to experience internet, apps and social media at less than Re 1 per day.

New entrant Uninor is offering customised recharges to its subscribers who can also avail additional talktime as bonus whenever they recharge. Called Rocket Recharge, the scheme uses a system that analyses every individual customer's usage pattern and then recommends an ideal recharge amount with an additional bonus ranging from extra talk time, extra SMSes or a discounted VAS service.

"When we know what you use, there is no reason why you should have to settle for what's in the market. The days of ordinary recharges are definitely over," Rajeev Sethi, chief marketing officer at Uninor, said. Over 7.35 lakh subscribers have subscribed to rocket recharge within 30 days of the pilot test launch.